THE YEAR 2014 concludes with the crisis in world politics deepening. The crisis is reflected in the issue of human rights with the politicization, selectivity and double standards practised by the United States, the European Union and various Commonwealth and NATO countries such as Canada. These countries are using the United Nations to push their so-called human rights agenda. For the peoples of the world this is not only worrisome but also reveals to them the urgent need for the renewal of the international arrangements to create a world order where such things cannot take place. The coming year is sure to see the demand of humanity for such a new world order as an expression of the striving of humanity to guarantee peace.

TML Weekly raises profound concerns over how a member state of the UN, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is being demonized by the U.S. and big powers of Old Europe. These imperialist powers are politicizing the issue of human rights to criminalize the DPRK and to replace much needed dialogue and a peace treaty between the DPRK and the U.S. with confrontation and warmongering.

On December 18, with many member states under threat and pressure from the U.S., the European Union and their allies, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution against the DPRK for its alleged human rights violations and so-called crimes against humanity, calling for the matter to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Of the 193 members of the UNGA, the non-binding resolution was passed by a vote of 116 votes to 20 with 52 abstentions. The imperialist politicizing of human rights was evident in the enormous pressure put on those countries that voted against the resolution at the Third Committee stage in November to change their vote, such as El Salvador, Grenada and South Sudan.

The DPRK’s Deputy UN Ambassador An Myong Hun told the UNGA that his delegation rejected the resolution. He pointed out that it is based on a fabricated report by authors who have never visited his country and who blocked all possibility for dialogue and cooperation. He further noted that the DPRK delegation rejected the use of human rights as a political weapon to justify regime change.

Additionally, and again as a result of U.S. maneuvering, the UN Security Council on a procedural vote on December 22 introduced for the first time the “human rights issue in the DPRK” as an agenda item of the 15-member Security Council. This was opposed by China and Russia while Chad and Nigeria abstained. The DPRK condemned the vote and rejected it, pointing out that the Security Council has no mandate to discuss human rights, only matters pertaining to security. Before the vote, China’s UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi said “the Security Council is not the forum to get involved in human rights issues” and urged the Council to “refrain from doing anything that might cause an escalation.”

Ambassador Liu said denuclearization, encouraging dialogue and maintaining stability on the Korean peninsula are the shared priorities of the global community and that “getting involved in the human rights situation will go against the above goals and can only bring harm instead of benefits.”

In concert with the manipulations in the UN, Sony Pictures and the U.S. government are orchestrating a fraud to promote a racist pro-war film full of hatred towards the DPRK, its leadership and people. From the get-go, the disinformation and accusations levelled against the DPRK for its alleged cyber attack on Sony Pictures were baseless. No evidence to justify these accusations has been presented by the U.S. state agencies or anyone else. The Foreign Ministry of the DPRK in a statement December 20 rejected these accusations as groundless attacks on the dignity of the country and its leadership, and proposed that the U.S. conduct a joint investigation with the DPRK.

The affair is all very murky. It can be seen that Sony Pictures stands to gain much publicity and revenue from these false accusations while the U.S. government is using them to increase its threats of war and regime change against the DPRK. It raises the possibility that the entire dirty business may have been engineered by the U.S. government and Sony itself to promote racist hatred of Koreans and war against the DPRK, and in passing boost sales of the movie. All this is a serious war crime.

TML Weekly calls on all peace-loving people in Canada and around the world to stand with the people of the DPRK and their leadership with a clear conscience by supporting the right to self-determination of all countries in the world and the right of the peoples to be and to determine their way of life. The politics of regime change in the name of high ideals are thoroughly exposed as imperialist takeover and have nothing to do with promoting freedom, democracy or human rights. This is the essence of the matter.

U.S. imperialism stands condemned

The U.S. attacks against the DPRK are a continuation of the Korean War in another form. The U.S. has never accepted its defeat in the Korean War — an unjust war that began when the U.S. manipulated the UN Security Council in June 1950 to interfere in a civil war in Korea, which had erupted in the course of bringing to account those who had colluded with the cruel decades-long Japanese colonization of Korea. The U.S. war against Korea resulted in the deaths of over 4 million Koreans and the total destruction of the infrastructure of the DPRK. Far from making amends for these crimes, the U.S. continues to use its positions of power to demonize the DPRK and organize for regime change.

By confounding the issues on the Korean Peninsula using the so-called human rights agenda, and making a mockery of serious matters with constant propaganda and anti-Korean racist pro-war films, the U.S. wants to sow doubt about the DPRK and generate support for an agenda of U.S. aggression, war and regime change. It seeks to ensure nobody rises in defence of the just cause of the Korean people.

In opposition, the people should defend the principle that no power has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign nations, and all nations should uphold the principles of peaceful coexistence, equality of nations, non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations and prohibition of the use of force to sort out conflicts between nations. On the Korean peninsula, the demand is that the U.S. sign a permanent peace treaty and remove all its troops and weapons. Also, the situation underlines the need for the renewal of the UN and the UN Security Council to guarantee the equality of nations and peoples, non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations, and the right of all nations and people to independence, self-determination and peace.

The recent example of the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States as a result of dialogue and diplomacy and the non-use of force is proof positive that conflicts between nations and peoples can be resolved peacefully. No matter what differences exist over matters that concern political, social, economic and other affairs, problems can be resolved through high level-talks and diplomacy, which the DPRK has consistently invited the U.S. to do.

TML Weekly calls on peace- and justice-loving people from Canada and around the world to defeat the blatant maneuvering within the UN by the U.S. — the biggest violator of human rights in the world, and its allies. This can be done by condemning this diversionary warmongering campaign targeting the DPRK. In 2015, the demand that the U.S. stop its criminal activity against the DPRK and sign a peace treaty with that country must be escalated. This is what will end the Korean War and favour the interests of all peoples.

Within this situation, the Canadian people must mobilize for an anti-war government that promotes peaceful relations amongst nations and peoples, and will not permit another war of aggression against the Korean people.

Why the human rights issue is so serious

DPRK Permanent Mission to the UN

Today the U.S. and other Western countries are increasingly cracking down on the human rights of the peoples of their countries, including on their socio-economic and cultural rights as well as on political freedom and rights.

In the U.S., whose population accounts for 5% of the world’s population, prisoners there account for 25% of the total number of prisoners in the world. Today, when the world is rushing to scale a new peak of human civilization, medieval torture and other kinds of human rights violations are being committed in the prison camps of the U.S.

Racial discrimination in the U.S., a self-proclaimed model country in the field of human rights, is cutting a wide swath with official and open sanction.

The chain of murders of innocent young black people committed by white policemen recently threw the whole world into a state of consternation.

Many working people, denied the rights to an existence and work, are wandering the streets as unemployed in the U.S. and other Western countries.

Extreme selfishness, misanthropy and such crimes as murder, robbery, rape, prostitution, racial discrimination, and discrimination and maltreatment of American Indians and immigrants are prevalent in American society, and people live in constant fear and misery.

Under the signboard of “defending human rights” the U.S. launches aggressive wars, enslaving peoples of other countries and openly interfering in their internal affairs, and thus violates their human rights. These aggressive wars not only trample upon their sovereignty but also claim the lives of their peoples, threaten their right to existence and restrict their socio-economic and cultural progress. Typical examples are the armed aggression against Grenada, the air campaign against the former Yugoslavia and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The U.S. has set up secret prison camps in various parts of the world, abducting people and torturing them in these camps. In the prison camp at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay 160 persons still languish.

The drone attacks committed by the U.S. are claiming many lives in Pakistan, Yemen and other countries.

The indiscriminate phone tapping and e-mail theft by the U.S. which have been exposed recently are illegal acts of espionage and, at the same time, a brazen-faced violation of human rights. Up to now the U.S. has set up phone-tapping facilities in over 80 places across the world, and wiretapped the telephone conversations of not only presidents and other high-ranking officials of their allies but also ordinary citizens by enlisting the National Security Agency and other intelligence organs.

Picking a quarrel using the “human rights issue” with the countries that are following the road of independence, the U.S. and other Western countries are interfering in their internal affairs, toppling their legitimate governments and suppressing human rights in these countries. These days the U.S. and other Western countries are egging on international organizations to kick up a fuss about the “human rights issue” in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This, in essence, is a serious act of aggression aimed at overthrowing its system and government. This is aggravating the situation on the Korean peninsula and the region surrounding it.

Many countries in the world still suffer from internal conflict and unrest, their peoples’ right to life is seriously threatened. One of the major reasons for this is that the U.S. and other Western countries are aggravating the situation and attempting to fish in troubled waters capitalizing on the conflict and unrest. Many countries are experiencing economic difficulties and their peoples’ right to existence is being seriously threatened because of the economic sanctions and blockade imposed by the U.S. and other Western countries.

The human rights issue is becoming more serious and complicated as the days go by owing to the U.S.’s high-handedness, arbitrariness and double standards. These days dialogue and collaboration for the promotion of genuine human rights on an international scale have disappeared, and high-handedness, arbitrariness and double standards produced by the political interests of some countries are cutting a wide swath. Disregarding the principles of mutual respect, trust and benefit and noninterference in the internal affairs of others, they are unilaterally demanding “cooperation” and “collaboration” in the field of human rights so as to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

It is a matter of course that cooperation and collaboration among countries are needed to resolve the human rights issue. However, this cooperation and collaboration must be subject to the commonly recognized principles of international law and must not be used as a precondition for interference in others’ internal affairs.

The U.S. and other Western countries are making this issue more complicated by bringing it not only to the UN and other international political organizations but to international economic and trade organizations. International economic and trade organizations are discussing the human rights issue, which is irrelevant to economic and trade issues, and this causes sharp antagonism among countries. This is a stark reality today.

The fact that the U.S. releases a “human rights report” every year and adopts federal laws against other sovereign states shows how far its high-handedness, arbitrariness and double standards have gone. It has made public such a report again this year, in which it claimed that China, Russia, Cuba, Iran and some other countries violated the human rights of their people and that no other country now makes efforts to defend human rights as the U.S. does.

The international community laments the present reality in which the greatest human rights violator itself behaves as the “human rights judge.”

(Edited slightly for grammar by TML)

Realistic and reasonable proposal for Korea’s reunification

Banner in reunification demonstration in Seoul, June 9, 2011.

Nearly 70 years have passed since Korea’s division. Korea’s division is a misfortune beyond words for the Korean people, who had lived as a homogeneous nation on the same territory for 5,000 years, and its division is a constant threat to global peace and stability.

Then, how should Korea be reunified?

So far many proposals have been made with regard to it. Proposals for “unification of systems” and “unification through absorption” are not worthy of discussion. As the north and the south will not give up their respective ideologies and systems, reunification through absorption of one by the other will inevitably bring calamity to the Korean nation and tragedy to the region.

The best way is to reunify the country through federation.

President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) who devoted his whole life to the reunification of Korea made a proposal for founding the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo (DFRK) as a plan for reunifying the country.

The gist of this plan is to leave the ideologies and systems of the north and the south of Korea intact and, on this basis, realize the reunification of the country and nation by coalescing the two sides to form a federal state.

The plan for founding the DFRK defines the principle of the formation of the unified government of the federal state and the scope of its activities. In this reunified state of a federal type, a supreme national federal assembly will be formed with an equal number of representatives from the north and the south and an appropriate number of representatives of overseas nationals. This assembly should also organize a federal standing committee to guide the regional governments of the north and the south and to administer all the affairs of the federal state. As a reunified state with different ideologies and systems left intact and based on one nation and regional autonomy, the DFRK will represent the whole territory of Korea and embrace the entire Korean nation.

The plan also defines the functions and roles of the federal government and regional governments. As the reunified government of the federal state, the supreme national federal assembly and its permanent organ, the federal standing committee, will discuss and decide on the issues of politics, national defence and external relations and other matters of common concern related to the interests of the country and nation as a whole on the principle of impartiality and in line with the nation’s desire for unity, collaboration and reunification, promote the coordinated development of the country and nation, and encourage unity and cooperation between the north and the south in all fields. The reunified government will also respect the social systems and administrative organizations, political parties and groups and people from all walks of life in the north and the south, and prevent one side from imposing its will on the other. Under the leadership of the federal government, the regional governments in the north and the south should follow an independent policy within limits that are consistent with the fundamental interests and demands of the whole nation and strive to narrow the gap between the two sides in all fields and achieve coordinated development of the country and nation.

In referring to the nomenclature of the reunified state, President Kim Il Sung proposed the name Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo, after the first unified state of the Korean nation, Koryo, which existed from 918 to 1392 and which is well known around the world. This proposed name reflects the political ideal common to the north and south aspiring for democracy. The nameKorea originated from Koryo.

The President stressed that the DFRK should be a neutral state that does not join any political or military alliance or bloc.

He also set out the following ten-point policy to be pursued by the federal state.

The DFRK should:

first, adhere to independence in all state activities and pursue an independent policy;

second, effect democracy throughout the country and in all areas of society and promote great national unity;

third, effect economic cooperation and exchange between the north and the south and ensure the development of an independent national economy;

fourth, realize north-south exchange and cooperation in the spheres of science, culture and education and ensure the uniform progress of the country’s science and technology, national culture and arts, and national education;

fifth, reopen transport and communications links between the north and the south and ensure the free use of the means of transport and communications all across the country;

sixth, ensure a stable livelihood for the entire people including the workers, peasants and other working masses and promote their welfare systematically;

seventh, remove the state of military confrontation between the north and the south and form a combined national army to defend the nation against invasion;

eighth, defend and protect the national rights and interests of all overseas Koreans;

ninth, deal properly with the foreign relations established by the north and the south prior to reunification, and coordinate the foreign activities of the two regional governments in a unified manner; and

tenth, as a unified state representing the whole nation, develop friendly relations with all the countries of the world and pursue a peaceful foreign policy.

The plan for establishing the DFRK reflects the longstanding unanimous aspiration of the Korean people for reunification of their country and the specific reality of the Korean peninsula in which different ideologies and systems exist in its north and south.

Now not a few federal or confederal states do exist in the world. The typical examples are the United States, Switzerland, Malaysia and Tanzania.

However, the DFRK has characteristics different from the existing federal states.

Unlike other federal states, the DFRK is formed by a homogeneous nation, based on different social systems and composed of one nation and two autonomous regional governments within the framework of a unified state. For this reason, the DFRK has characteristics unique to it in the principle of formation and distribution of power between the unified government and autonomous regional governments.

As advanced in President Kim Il Sung’s plan for the DFRK, a new phase could be opened for building a federal state in the same nation despite the difference in socio-political system.

The DFRK is the most reasonable form of unified state, in that it prioritizes the common demands and interests of the nation and realizes national unity, transcending the difference of ideology and system.

The international community sincerely wishes that the Korean nation will achieve the independent and peaceful reunification of their country through federation.